Canada travel guide (North America)

Canada is a country in North America. The only independent neighbour state is the USA with which Canada has active economic relations. Canada also shares borders with Greenland which belongs to Denmark and St. Pierre and Miquelon, belonging to France. The majority of the population of Canada is concentrated in a few cities.

Canada is politically organised as a federation in order to provide for ethnic, cultural and linguistic variety. Political intent is a resulting mosaic of cultures (as opposed to the model of the cultural melting pot). Québec’s fight for independence, the rights of the French speaking and of the indigenous minorities are central issues within Canadian society.

Canada is a parliamentary monarchy organised into federal states. Parliament consists of a democratically elected lower house and the senate, whose members are appointed. The legislative period is four years. However, the prime minister is able to dissolve the lower house and call for elections within this time period.

Canada is the second largest country on earth, with an area of almost 10 million square kilometres. It borders on the USA to the south and west (Alaska), the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, Greenland and the Atlantic Ocean.

It has varying climates: In the north, the climate is polar with temperatures falling as low as -40 ° C . In the interior of the country, the climate is continental with frosty winters, short hot summers and moderate rainfall. On the Atlantic coast, the temperatures are a little lower, which may be attributed to the Labrador Current. For about 6 months in the year, ice floes block Hudson Bay and the Labrador coast, whilst the climate on the Pacific is very mild and there is abundant rainfall.

The largest island is Baffin Island. The east of the country is dominated by the Saint Lawrence current, the north by Hudson Bay. The large plains in central Canada are a continuation of those in the mid-west of North America. West of these are the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast. The largest city is Toronto, followed by Montréal, Vancouver and Calgary. The northern part is characterised by the Canadian archipelago. The northern peninsular is called Boothia.